Dynamic component test facility – crash facility

In addition to novel vehicle concepts, the DLR Institute of Vehicle Concepts in Stuttgart is also developing new technologies in the area of body development. Predominantly material combinations and concepts for which no validated computation methodology yet exists are being tested for this. Among these are for instance components and assemblies made of fibre-reinforced plastics or novel energy absorption concepts that are implemented, for example, in the form of machined pipes in a novel front end developed at the Institute.

The Institute of Vehicle Concepts has developed and set up a crash facility in co-operation with Doktor Steffan Datentechnik GmbH, which enables the testing of large components and substructures. Setting up a complete body is thus unnecessary.

These component and assembly tests can confirm computation results of structures in early development phases. The flexible structure of the dynamic component test facility enables crash tests to be adjusted exactly to the customer's needs.

Crash facility

The crash facility's benefits in overview:

Tests of individual assemblies possible with the weight and speed of an overall vehicle crash

Great flexibility for many different test configurations

Measurement of local deformations and speeds via 3-D point tracking

The crash facility's structure

The facility consists of two test sleds to enable representing as many test configurations as possible. For a crash test, one of the two test sleds is accelerated along a track railway and impacts the second test sled. The latter test sled can either be fixed, for instance to simulate a frontal crash against a

standing obstacle, or set up on the track railway freely movable in the longitudinal direction.

The second case is used for instance to reproduce a side impact. Test sled acceleration is done using a cylinder operated with compressed air. A hydraulic brake regulates the cylinder's force of acceleration. The impact speed can be exactly defined this way. The rapidity of the regulation also yields the possibility of simulating crash momentum directly through the cylinder's acceleration. This function can be used for instance to test air bags or electronic components.

Capability The test sled can accelerate to a maximum of 64 km/h with a total mass of 1300 kg. Large body structures for light- to medium-weight vehicle designs can be tested under realistic conditions with this. The test sleds are guided vertically as well as in the transverse direction to achieve high reproducibility of the experiments.

Metrology Each test sled is equipped with a data acquisition system in order to record measured values at up to 42.5 kHz. Accelerations, elongations, forces, and deformations can be recorded during the collision depending on sensor equipment. High-speed video cameras and a lighting system are available for high-speed photographs of the crash. Software for point tracking enables local deformations and speed progressions to be investigated directly on the component.